Hi,
Does anyone know which local authorities are using the Hackney Model in Childrens Services. I know Cambridge are intiating the model just wondered if any other authorites are?
Thanks
sw536
Also, whether there is a constructive critical evaluation of it anywhere? How do we know that it is not like the Emperor's new clothes? Is it better able to protect the most vulnerable children?
There are several LAs putting into place what they believe to be some or all of the model. Cambridgeshire seem to be doing this in a very thorough way. I am concerned that some others may see this as an opportunity to restructure from teams to units and think this is "the Hackney model". (Social work managers seem to love to restructure). In fact, the units are an expression of a different philosophy which prioritises supporting workers to work in highly skilled ways with families and are therefore only one element of a complex whole system reform.
There is of course Eileen Munro's evaluation which has been published by the DfE, however I am sure she (and Hackney) would be the first to admit that it had a number of limitations - not least the lack of a comparison local authority or local authorities. An independently funded in-depth evaluation is currently being completed and findings will start to be published from about April onwards.
Historically Cambridgeshire adopted a 'tight' criteria for provision of services and left very many young people and families at severe risk and even continuing abuse. Somewhat prior to my arrival as agency Service Manager the numbers on the CP Register for the third of the Authroity I worked in had gone down to around 7, when I left the number was more like 75 and then, I believe, hit over 100.
Unless extremely effective preventive services / Universal Services are in place then any efforts to restrict access to services will have medium - long-term detrimenatl results and leave the most vulnerable unprotected.
There has to be the highest possible ethical approach to how we provide Services not one of short-term budget reductions. We must learn from past mistakes - the human price we pay is far too high if we don't and so the 'Hackney Model' requires close, intensive and frequent evalutation with results being compared with analaysed against the previous position (ideally at least over a 5-10 year period).
Hi
Thanks that's really useful to know.